Consumers Prefer Chatbots over Humans When Buying Embarrassing Products Online

A recent study conducted by researchers at The Ohio State University reveals an interesting trend in online shopping behavior: consumers often prefer interacting with chatbots rather than human customer service agents when purchasing potentially embarrassing items.

Led by doctoral student Jianna Jin from Ohio State's Fisher College of Business, the study found that when faced with self-presentation concerns—worries about how their actions may be perceived by others— consumers gravitate towards chatbots over human agents, particularly when shopping for items like antidiarrheal medicine or skincare products.

"In general, research shows people would rather interact with a human customer service agent than a chatbot," said Jinn. "But we found that when people are worried about others judging them, that tendency reverses and they would rather interact with a chatbot because they feel less embarrassed dealing with a chatbot than a human."

The study, published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology and co-authored by Jesse Walker and Rebecca Walker Reczek, offers an intriguing new dimension in regard to recognizing consumer preferences, especially in the context of online shopping where anonymity can be a significant factor.

In one study, participants were presented with scenarios involving the purchase of antidiarrheal medicine or hay fever medication from online drugstores. When the embarrassing item was involved, a significant majority opted for the store with chatbots, citing a decreased sense of embarrassment compared to interactions with human agents.

Interestingly, the effectiveness of chatbots was influenced by their perceived humanness. Participants were more receptive to chatbots with simplistic speech bubble icons or non-human avatars, rather than those with realistic human avatars or emotional language.

Furthermore, participants were more likely to provide personal information, such as email addresses, to chatbots rather than human agents, reinforcing the notion that chatbots offer a sense of anonymity and reduced social pressure.

As conversational AI technology advances, the line between chatbots and human agents may blur, posing challenges for businesses to maintain transparency.

“It is going to be even more important for firms to clearly disclose that they use chatbots if they want consumers to realize they are interacting with a bot," Reczek said.